Day 64 - Pay attention.

My office entrance is a glass entrance with black partitions and our company logo on the glass windows, it isn't hard to notice that it’s there, even on the cleanest-no finger prints day (I’ve attached a picture below so you can see for yourself). On a weekly basis, I can't tell you how many people run into the glass because they are either on their phones, not paying attention, or sadly they are not bright enough to realize that all offices have an entrance and are not just alfresco. Sadly we’ve even had vendors who have been working with us for years, and KNOW that there's a glass there, run into it for lack of paying attention.

It’s pretty funny because above our entrance hallway there’s a camera recording everything, so over the years our security staff have collaborated a video of all the people who have ran into the glass. Let's just say the video is fairly long.

In today's society we are generating and encouraging a culture of distraction where we are gradually disconnected from the people and events around us and gradually unable to engage in long-form thinking. If our brains aren't stimulated we feel anxious; in a psychology article that I read, it points out that by constantly being distracted, "we are losing some very important things; we threaten the key ingredients behind creativity and insight by filling our "gap" time with stimulation. And we inhibit real human connection when we prioritize our phones over the people right in front of us".

As today's deed I decided to look at my phone as least as possible and pay attention to the here and now. I must admit, I caught myself picking it up subconsciously throughout the day (even while driving), and had to remind myself to put it down and pay attention.  During a lunch date with my boyfriend, while waiting for our food instead of making conversation I picked up my phone to play a game, while he sat there staring at me. I rapidly realized what I was doing and put my phone away. Although it was challenging, I completed my deed (for the most part).
  What I gained from this deed seems to be a repetitive message that I've been shown in previous deeds: life is too short to not pay attention to the things that matter most. This is summed up by a movie I saw recently with Adam Sandler called Click. The movie trailer never caught my attention when in theaters but it was playing the other day on TV and since there was nothing better to watch I tuned in. To my surprise the moral of the film really hit home and touched my heart.The message of the movie is that there will come a time in life where you've reached your desired goal after years of long, hard work, and when you do you'll ask yourself, this is it? This is what I worked for all of these years? It is not as sweet as I thought it would be.  That’s because happiness does not reside at the end of your race, it is experienced along the way.

The number of friends that you gain, the special moments in life with people who mean the world to you, the laughter, the people whose hearts you touched, the memories – even the ‘bad’ memories, like the day your daughter or son had a science project which exploded in the kitchen, leaving you furious at them and the mess they caused. All of those moments are what make you look back and smile.

Value your time with the people who mean the most, don’t spend it working to be the most successful or on your phone texting, instead make your race worth it and pay attention. I leave you with this movie clip from Click…..♥♥